


The Sandman (De Klaas Vaak)

by mxjamieli



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Friendships, Eventual Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28165305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxjamieli/pseuds/mxjamieli
Summary: Most stories of The Sandman are fairy tales of a sunshine-y figure inspiring beautiful dreams. However, the story that Lucille Maden told her tenth-grade history class was quite the opposite of this stereotype. Ms. Maden’s story of The Sandman involves a dark, shadowy figure.ORA mythical creature from one of Ms. Maden’s famous story times turns out to be not-so-mythical.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)





	The Sandman (De Klaas Vaak)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello loves! This is my first ever work published here on AO3. The idea for this short story branched from a nightmare that I had a while back. I decided that writing about it would be cathartic (though I ended up taking a lot of liberties), so here we are!  
> Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter: @mxjamieli  
> 

The Sandman • De Klaas Vaak

Most stories of The Sandman are fairy tales of a sunshine-y figure inspiring beautiful dreams. However, the story that Lucille Maden told her tenth-grade history class was quite the opposite of this stereotype. Ms. Maden’s story of The Sandman involves a dark, shadowy figure. These victims may appear to be sleeping, but the truth of the matter is much grimmer than that. This version of The Sandman, known to the Dutch as De Klaas Vaak, puts his victims into a coma, where they are confronted by their worst fears. As these fears play out, any injury that comes to them stays with them, even if they awake from the coma. The only exception to this rule is if The Sandman is defeated. If the Sandman’s victims are not awoken, their bodies deteriorate, eventually leading to brain death (that is, if they are not killed in their nightmares first).

There is only one way to permanently defeat The Sandman: to wake from his coma. Only those with a strong mind and a strong will can do so. In order to wake from The Sandman’s coma, one must overcome their biggest fears and realize that what they are seeing isn’t real. After someone has awoken from The Sandman’s coma, they are invulnerable to him and can defeat him. For this reason, Ms. Maden likes to think of The Sandman’s attacks as a deadly version of the chickenpox: they are difficult to survive, but if you do, you are immune to them.

The Sandman targets young people who show strength of mind and of will. These people are a threat to him. One young woman in Ms. Maden’s tenth-grade history class happens to fit this description. Her name is Mira.

Mira had never believed the story that Ms. Maden told her class about The Sandman. Why would she? Ms. Maden loved to tell her students about different myths and legends from throughout history. One vital difference between the original telling of The Sandman’s legend and the story that Ms. Maden told her class is that Ms. Maden’s story was true.

• • •

Mira is washing her hands in the school bathroom when she feels a… presence. The girl standing next to her at the sink falls to the ground, unconscious. Mira looks up into her reflection to see a dark, shadowy figure standing behind her. She freezes and the color drains from her face. “Y-you can’t be real,” Mira mutters in disbelief. She stares at The Sandman just for a second, before bolting out of the bathroom. The Sandman chuckles then quickly flies after Mira.

“Help! Help me, please!” Mira screams as she runs through the school halls. But her screams are useless. As she runs, the shadowy figure chases after her, and anyone who is close enough to help her falls deep into sleep. Mira’s screams will not wake them. The longer she runs, the closer the shadowy figure gets to catching up with her. Mira’s body begins to feel tired and weak. As she rounds a corner, Mira’s body grows weaker yet. Her legs give out and her body suddenly feels like it’s holding up a thousand-pound weight on its shoulders. Mira drops to the cold tile floor. Just as her eyes close, a tall, familiar blur appears at the other end of the hallway.

• • • in the dream world • • •

Mira wakes up in a cold, dimly lit room. Two stern-looking, muscular men, one bald and one a brunette, come into the room as Mira examines her surroundings. “Where am I?” Mira asks them. They don’t answer her question. Instead, the two men grab her by her arms and force her into a wooden chair. Mira squirms as they try to tie her wrists and ankles to the chair. She manages to free one of her legs long enough to kick the bald man in the crotch. He quickly regains his composure, then hooks Mira across the face as payback.

“Stupid bitch,” the bald man mutters. The two men finish tying Mira’s wrists and ankles to the chair.

“What do you want from me?!” Mira asks them angrily. The two men smirk at each other before looking back at Mira.

“We want you to watch,” says the bald one, getting close to Mira’s face.

A blond man (who looks just as stern and muscular as the first two) appears through a door on the left side of the room, dragging with him a hostage with a black bag over their head. The brunette brings over another wooden chair and sits it opposite of Mira. The blond man sits the hostage down, then ties them up. They take the bag off the hostage’s head, revealing someone familiar to Mira. “Ms. Maden?” Mira says, confused. Ms. Maden smiles sadly in response. The bald man interrupts by grabbing Mira’s hair and holding a knife to her throat. Mira winces slightly as the blade makes a shallow cut into her neck.

“You’re worthless, Mira. You’re just a weak, invisible little girl. That’s all you will ever be,” the bald man whispers into Mira’s ear. Tears begin to well up in Mira’s eyes, but she blinks them away. His words cut deep into Mira’s non-existent self-esteem, reinforcing thoughts that she already had about herself. She swallows the lump in her throat, still trying to push back the tears that are threatening to overflow. Mira has grown up in the foster care system and lives with a pair of foster parents who wouldn’t notice or care if she never came home. All they care about are the checks that come in the mail, which they use to buy cheap alcohol. She’s alone in this world; no one notices her. She may as well be invisible.

The only person who has ever seen Mira is the woman sitting in front of her. Ms. Maden lets her eat lunch in her classroom, rather than sitting alone in the cafeteria or the library. She encourages Mira to answer questions in class because she knows that Mira understands everything. No one has ever taken the time to get to know Mira, not until Ms. Maden did.

“Don’t listen to him, Mira. He’s only trying to get into your head,” Ms. Maden says. The bald man releases Mira and walks closer to Ms. Maden. He places the tip of his knife under her chin threateningly.

“Invisible except to one,” the bald man says, still facing Ms. Maden. “I can change that.”

“Please don’t hurt her,” Mira begs, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“Well…” the man pauses, “since you asked nicely…” He pulls a gun from the waist of his pants and fires it.

“No!” Mira shouts desperately, tears streaming down her cheeks. The man leaves the room with a satisfied grin on his face. Mira struggles to free herself from her restraints. She finally breaks free and rushes to put pressure on the bullet wound in Ms. Maden’s abdomen. “Y-you’re going to be okay. I’m going to get us out of here,” Mira says frantically.

“You are stronger than you know, Mira,” She says weakly.

“Stay with me, please. Don’t give up.” Mira pleads. She grabs her hand and squeezes it tightly. “Ms. Maden?” Ms. Maden closes her eyes and her head tilts to rest on the back of the chair. “No. No, no, please. No.” Mira checks her neck for a pulse but finds nothing. She collapses beside the chair, sobbing.

• • • in the real world • • •

The Sandman turns the corner to stand over Mira’s body and admire his work. “She’s a threat to you. Mira is strong. She can beat you,” says a woman’s voice from across the hall.

The Sandman chuckles and turns to face this woman. “She cannot defeat me. No one can defeat me,” he asserts arrogantly. He walks towards the woman with a smirk on his face.

“I can. That’s why you came for me all those years ago.” The Sandman looks surprised for just a moment before he remembers who she is.

“Ah. You’re the bitch that got away.”

“Yeah, but I’m not going away this time. You are,” Ms. Maden says confidently. She reaches towards The Sandman’s shadowy figure. A blinding light emerges from behind her hand. The light grows until it fills the hallway and all the rooms attached to it. When the light recedes, the only thing left of The Sandman is a small pile of sand on the floor. Ms. Maden doesn’t savor the victory long, instead rushing to Mira’s side. She sees the cut on her neck and her bruised cheek. She worries that Mira may not have much time left. “Mira, can you hear me?”

• • • in the dream world • • •

Mira is caught up in a spiral of fear and pain. She let the one person who she trusted and cared about, die. A faint voice calls out to Mira and interrupts her heaving sobs. The voice is distorted yet seems familiar to her. She can’t make out what the voice is saying. Mira stares up at the dead woman in front of her. She feels so incredibly helpless; so powerless. After feeling invisible for so long, one person finally saw her. And now, that person is dead. “Mira, it’s not real,” the voice calls out to her, louder and clearer this time. Mira knows whose voice it is now. Confusion crosses her face, because the voice belongs to the dead woman sitting in front of her. Mira thinks that she might be going crazy at this very moment, losing her sanity. She slowly gets up from the floor and cautiously leans over Ms. Maden’s body. “Mira, I’m right here” says the voice. Suddenly, the two chairs, along with Ms. Maden’s body disappear from the room. Mira leaps back and falls to the ground.

“Th-This is n-not happening. It’s not real,” Mira whispers to herself. At that moment, a blinding light pours into the room, reaching into every dingey corner.

• • • in the real world • • •

Mira’s eyes slowly flutter open and she takes in a big breath of air. “There you are,” Ms. Maden says. A tear rolls down Mira’s cheek as she realizes who is sitting next to her. Mira hugs Ms. Maden tightly and she returns the hug just as enthusiastically. “I’m so proud of you, Mira” Ms. Maden whispers. This only makes Mira cry harder. Mira hugs her tighter, then pulls away as she remembers the shadowy figure she encountered not so long ago. She notices the small pile of sand in the middle of the hallway. “He’s gone, Mira,” Ms. Maden assures her.

“Y-you defeated him,” Mira says in disbelief. “How?”

“Do you remember the story that I told you in class?”

“Yeah, you said that the only way to defeat The Sandman was to have survived his attack before, because then you would be… invulnerable to him…” Mira pauses as she realizes what Ms. Maden is saying. “He attacked you before?”

“Yes, he targeted me as a teenager. I was actually about your age,” Ms. Maden says.

“Why? What does he want?” Mira asks.

“You remember that I said that the only way to wake from his coma is to confront your biggest fears and to realize that what you’re seeing isn’t real?” Mira nods her head. “Well, he targets those who he thinks have a strong mind – people that can beat him.” Mira still looks confused. Ms. Maden sighs. “You are strong, Mira. You are one of the strongest people I have ever met.” Mira smiles in response to her compliment and hugs her again. “Now, let’s go get you cleaned up,” Ms. Maden says.

The hustle and bustle of the school hallway returns. The Sandman’s victims have woken up and most of them have already forgotten their experiences entirely. That is, except for Mira and Ms. Maden. They had faced The Sandman and some of their worst fears, then come out on the other side. They also found a friend, someone who they can relate to, in one another. That is something that neither of them will be forgetting anytime soon.

• • •

Mira and Ms. Maden spent many lunch periods talking, laughing, reading, and of course, eating. One particularly special day Ms. Maden brought Mira a surprise for lunch. “Hey, Mira, I have a surprise for you before you go. It’s in the top drawer of my desk.”

“What is it?” Mira asked, clearly confused.

“Well, you’ll have to look to find out now, won’t you?” Ms. Maden responded with a smile. Mira opened the top drawer of her desk and found herself confused.

“A blueberry muffin? Not that I’m complain-”

“Hey, that’s my muffin! Hands off.” Ms. Maden walked over next to Mira. “Look at the thing next to the muffin,” Ms. Maden said lightheartedly, pointing to a piece of paper rolled up and tied with a red ribbon. Mira took the paper from the drawer, carefully untied the ribbon, and unrolled the piece of paper.

“Is this… what I think it is?” Mira asked, looking up at Ms. Maden.

“What do you think?” Ms. Maden asked her. Tears started streaming down Mira’s cheeks before she even realized it and she launched herself at Ms. Maden. “Is that a yes?” Ms. Maden asks.

“Yes! Yes, I want you to adopt me,” Mira declared. Ms. Maden couldn’t hold back her tears either and held Mira tightly. The both of them were still a mess when the end-of-lunch bell rang. They couldn’t have cared less, though, because they were going to make a home — a family —together. They didn’t have to be alone anymore; they were safe.

The End • Het Einde

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again loves! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!  
> Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter: @mxjamieli  
> 


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